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DP Adds Lower-Priced Projection Solutions

— As an early leader in 3D home cinema projectors,
Digital Projection (DP) will use CEDIA Expo to unveil
a next-generation model with a lower price to own.

Following on the heels of last year’s $84,000 3-chip Titan
3D model, DP said it is introducing a one-chip DLP 3D
chassis that will debut early next year in the MVision 400-
3D, said Michael Bridwell, DP marketing communications
manager.

With an expected retail of around $20,000, the projector
will be positioned as “the lowest-cost FullHD 1080p
single-projection 3D solution in the
market,” he said.

The MVision 400-3D will continue
to use the same manufacturer-agnostic
standard active-shutter glasses
approach used by the workhorse
Titan 3D.

“We didn’t want to be stuck in a situation
where we were beholden to one
[glasses] supplier,” Bridwell explained.
“We want anybody who puts something
cool out, to have it work with the Titan, and that’s the
way we are staying with the MVision 400.”

Along with the MVision 400-3D, Digital Projection plans
to stretch its now 400-plus-dealer base further by introducing
its first 2D DLP projector designed for a lower end of
the market.

The MVision Cine 230, which will carry a $6,995 to
$7,995 suggested retail (depending on lens), will be
$3,000 to $4,000 less than any product the company has
ever carried, said Bridwell.

It will also be a single-chip DLP unit with lens flexibility
built on the company’s LED chassis, but using a UHP lamp.

“We are looking at the fact that we need to expand distribution
for these lower-cost projectors. They give the topend
dealers an excuse to talk, but they would rather sell
the Titan,” Bridwell said. “It’s these younger and smaller
dealers that do really well in conversations when they are
selling Sony’s and things like that. So, this is going to be a
very interesting step in the market for us.”

Still, he said, DP will stay loyal to its current dealer
class and will remain focused on independents
and smaller accounts. It
won’t seek out chains like Magnolia or
big commercial distributors that could
disrupt the account base the company
worked years to develop, Bridwell
continued.

Digital Projection will also present its
second LED projector in the 700-lumen
dVision 30-1080p LED projector, which
is expected to ship later this year at an
expected retail starting around $30,000, and the HIGHlite
Cine 260 3-chip 1080p DLP display, which is shipping now.

Also to be demonstrated is the dVision 35-WQXGA XC
projector, which is said to offer “the highest resolution of
any DLP-based product available.” Shipping to commercial
channels since July and now ready for home cinema,
the 35-WQXGA (whose name is the nomenclature representing
the units’ 2,560 by 1,600 pixel count) offer almost twice the resolution of a 1080p projector.

The dVision 35-WQXGA XC produces
4,096,000 pixels from a single
projector, the company said. It can bypass
the need for an anamorphic lens
solution, when employed in a constant
height application. It features 6,500
lumens of brightness and 7,500:1 native
contrast ratio.

DP will also demonstrate its secondgeneration
Dimension Server, which
provides 3D gaming and entertainment
content for use with any DP 3D projector.
The unit, which will see an expected
price point of less than $20,000, is
billed as “a source for all things 3D.”
It will perform 2D-to-3D conversion on
the fly using a dynamic buffer, and will
playback native 3D video games and
movies, including 3D Blu-ray Discs.